The Record-Review – The official newspaper of Bedford and Pound Ridge, New York

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011

A noble deed

Bedford Central School District board member Mark Chernis is a longtime educational professional who for the past 24 years has served as president and CEO of The Princeton Review, a national company offering educational services including standardized test and entrance exam preparation. Since 2008, he has served as president of SchoolNet Inc., a firm that provides data tools for school districts. Earlier this year, SchoolNet was bought by Pearson, a provider of instructional improvement education software that increases student achievement, teacher quality and operational efficiency. Pearson also happens to be a provider to the Bedford Central School District.

While not directly dealing with the district himself, Mr. Chernis immediately brought this potential conflict of interest before the board, and early this month announced that he was stepping down from his board spot. Last May, he won his third election, but Mr. Chernis was ready to make the difficult decision. His resignation was effective immediately, and he excused himself before the board began their agenda at the first meeting of the year.

Mr. Chernis has promised to continue to serve on the district’s budget committee, a role to which he’s well suited.

“The district is much better because of your presence.” said board superintendent Jere Hochman.

We agree. Mr. Chernis leaves big shoes to fill, but those with a vision for the district and a desire to serve may consider the model Mr. Chernis presented.

Interested?

The board of education invites interested individuals to submit an application by Oct. 7. The board will meet in public special session to conduct interviews of all candidates on Oct. 19. Following the public interview of candidates, community members may also submit input to the board through Oct. 25 by email at boe@bcsdny.org.

The board is expected to make an appointment on or about Nov. 16. The term of office will commence with the board’s appointment and continue until the next school board election on May 15, 2012.

Sunday morning and the sun was shining, temperature perfect in the mid- to upper 60s, and the Homestead was bedecked for its annual country fair.

Familiar faces greeted us as soon as we entered, including the Homestead’s Laurie Lewis and Peter Michaelis and Bedford’s Alan Aboody. We saw old friends, Bedford’s Barbara Gatfield and Mary Ann Hawley (of the newly christened Rochambeau Farm on Guard Hill Road) at the crafts table, the Torres — Bob and Marion — at the Bedford Riding Lanes Association booth, the Homestead’s president, Melissa Vail, and so many more. It occurred to us that Bedford has assumed a personality of its own, and if there was one representative moment of the year that epitomizes all the volunteerism, the community spirit and longtime tradition of our town, it is the fair.

The event was enjoyed by thousands of happy fairgoers, many of them in strollers (and more than a few on leashes) enjoying the Revolutionary War reenactors, tree-sawing contest, pony rides, fiddle music, barbecue hot dogs and hamburgers, and yes, the racing pigs, who somehow manage to make a splash for a new generation of youthful racing fans.

Another great addition brought the John Jay Homestead Farm Market — which debuted earlier this year — to the fair, with the vendors setting up just south of the stone wall and merchandising jellies, jams, locally grown fresh produce, herbs and more.

As a journalist reported at the occasion of the 70th birthday of the Honorable John Jay, a grandson of the First Chief Justice of the United States, in 1887, “It need hardly be said that none of the hosts or guests who could possibly attend failed to take part in the celebration, and that it passed off to the delight of all.”

The Homestead Fair is John Jay’s valuable family legacy, for “the delight of all.”